PFLP: One year after aggression, resistance is necessary to break the siege on Gaza

The resistance and steadfastness of the people of Gaza remains powerful and strong one year after the criminal war and aggression on Gaza, said the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on December 26, 2009 in a statement marking the first anniversary of the assault. The occupation massacres claimed the lives of nearly 1500 Palestinians and wounded and displaced tens of thousands, demolishing tens of thousands of homes which still await reconstruction today.

The Front’s statement said that “it is clear to all, month after month, and year after year, that the words of the United States about ‘peace’ and ‘negotiations’ are nothing more than meaningless sweet talk, false promises, and cheap attempts at bribery of our people while the occupation steals our land, violates our rights, slaughters our people.” At the same time, the noise of the so-called ‘peace process’ only hides the crimes of the occupier and serves as a mechanism of the Zionist occupation and its strategic ally in Washington to block our Palestinian internal efforts to end the division, restore national unity, and uphold our national rights, said the Front.

The statement went on to say that the leaders of the occupation war machine believed that they could win security and political victory and break the will of our people to steadfastness and resistance, and our commitment to our national rights through a massive display of massacres and barbarism. However, in reality, they have gained no political victory and no so-called security, and their attempts to dislodge the resistance from Lebanon and Palestine have utterly failed.

The Front’s statement also said that the Gaza massacre demonstrated clearly before the eyes of the world the utter lies of any Zionist claims of “military ethics” or “democracy” as it used internationally banned weapons, including white phosphorus, to rain destruction and devastation upon Gaza, noting that the people of the world responded in horror at the occupation state and solidarity with our Palestinian people, even as the official international community remained silent and complicit.

It noted that the official United Nations report of Justice Goldstone investigating the occupation war crimes in Gaza laid bare the facts of the occupation’s crimes, calling upon the international community and the United Nations to hold the occupation war criminals accountable and fulfill their political, legal and moral responsibilities.

The Front’s statement also greeted the Arab people and the international progressive forces in the world, expressing pride and gratitude in their ongoing solidarity and strength that continues to defy all of the enemies of Palestine in support of the rights of our people.

Comrade Dr. Maher Taher, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP and leader of its branch in exile, said further that resistance is a necessity to break the siege of Gaza, saying that human rights criticisms and humanitarian projects are important, but insufficient by themselves, to break the siege.

Comrade Taher said that the reports of international human rights organizations were important, confirming and documenting the major crimes committed before the eyes and ears of the world. He noted that the Arab governments and the official international community is silent and complicit as 1.5 million Palestiniand in Gaza suffer under siege, but forces, groups and institutions of conscience have continually called for action, from the Goldstone report, to international human rights organizations, to massive grassroots solidarity mobilizations around the world.

He denounced the complicity of Arab regimes with the siege on Gaza, saying that silence about the Israeli crimes allows them to continue. He noted also that the siege is not simply a humanitarian issue that is a crime against humanity and affects children, the elderly and the sick, but that the siege upon the Palestinian people is also a political siege.

Comrade Taher said that “the Israeli enemy wants the Palestinian people to raise flags of surrender, abandon their resistance, and accept the terms and conditions of the U.S. and Zionism, but the Palestinian people, despite all, continue the fight, refuse to surrender and will continue to raise the banner of resistance, whatever the circumstances.”